Now Xbox One gets its own launch fault

As night follows day talk of a hardware problem has accompanied last week’s global Xbox One launch.

Whereas PS4 has its now catchily-titled ‘Blinking Blue Light of Death’ fault, online reports suggest that some Xbox One launch units are suffering from a somewhat less catchphrase-friendly disc drive error.

Affected users are saying that not only will their new console not read discs, but the disc drive itself produces a horrible grinding noise when a disc is inserted.

A host of sites such as IGN, Polygon and GamesRadar have received units suffering from the issue, while Kotaku claims to have received some 150 emails from readers whose units have done the same.

Even today’s issue of The Sun has a story entitled “Vex box: Gamers blast ‘faulty’ new Microsoft console”.

Whereas Sony has said it believes the BBLOD affects “less than one per cent” of units (although his is an increase from its previous 0.4 per cent estimate), Microsoft has yet to release any estimates of its own. But with over 1m units already in the wild, you’d realistically expect thousands of faulty units to be in the channel – the complicated nature of modern tech makes this an inevitability.

The only official Microsoft statement on the issue to date reads:

"The issue is affecting a very small number of Xbox One customers. We're working directly with those affected to get a replacement console to them as soon as possible through our advance exchange program. Rest assured, we are taking care of our customers.

"Customers have the option for us to send a replacement console right away without waiting until they have returned their old one. This means a customer only has to wait a matter of days, rather than weeks to get back up and running."

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